Festival Team

Jill Macdonald
(Festival Curator)

Jill Macdonald holds an M. Phil. in English Literature from Balliol College, Oxford. She was for many years Principal of The British School in Colombo and as founding Principal of The Study, continues to teach Advanced Level Literature while pursuing her passion for music, dance and art. She is delighted to contribute her wide engagement with contemporary writers and writing to the Fairway Galle Literary Festival and looks forward to building on the outstanding work of the Festival Founder and three previous Curators, to bring a lively and varied field of first class writers to centre stage in January 2018.

Ashvini Shanmugaretnam
(Festival Manager)

Ashvini brings to the role of Festival Manager a dynamic background in event coordination and management. With a degree in mathematics and finance, she is well versed in the art of the possible and brings wide-ranging experience in the corporate and hospitality sectors to the post of Manager of the FGLF. Her many interests: sport, dance, international understanding and service, have enabled her to keep numerous balls in the air at once, while attending to the detail of each. She is excited at the prospect of FGLF 2018 and enjoying the challenges of preparing for the ninth version of the Festival.

Geoffrey Peter Dobbs
(Festival Founder)

Born just a week after Stalin died, Geoffrey lived for 14 years in the Soviet Union, 4 years in Poland and 2 years in the former Yugoslavia, with interval years in India, Italy and England. Of Anglo-Irish and Australian parents, his father was a diplomat and mother a journalist turned best selling author. Geoffrey was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. After leaving university he went to seek fame and fortune in Hong Kong, where on a holiday he discovered Ceylon and bought the Island of Taprobane and later is credited with starting boutique hotels in Galle Sri Lanka. He was swimming in the sea in Weligama when the tsunami hit and set up Adopt Sri Lanka, which spent over 4 million dollars alleviating the plight of many Sri Lankans. He is a keen sailor and has crossed the Pacific on bamboo raft and the Indian Ocean on a traditional Omani dhow. He set up the Galle Literary Festival in 2007. He was honoured by the President of Sri Lanka for services rendered to tourism and for the work he did after Tsunami.